Increasing one’s awakening status, as it turned out, had a considerable number of advantages. Apart from the improvements and the new skill Dallion had gained, he found that he could use his powers twice per day. Quite the welcome surprise, since it avoided him to explain what he had done that night. It also allowed him to improve things he wanted in secret.

The attack skill turned out to be exactly the way Dallion imagined it would be—instead of green markers, he was presented with a series of red ones, suggesting where and how he would attack. More curious, the slightly heightened perception had caused weak spots and vulnerabilities to become visible on his enemy. Targeting one had resulted in instant defeat of the first guardian Dallion had faced. Only on the next, and final day before the trial, did he consciously try to avoid taking advantage of his skills in order to get some degree in training.

The whole experience had made the boy much more aware of how weak he actually was. Gloria, with her high perception and attack, would probably turn him into swiss cheese, then start playing whack-a-mole with his inner organs afterwards. Guard skills and reflexes were a good counter, but at his low stamina, they were a limited resource.

An encounter with a cooking pot guardian had left Dallion drained to the extreme. Granted, he had received much praise and thanks from his entire family, and could rest assured the food quality would increase even more, but it didn’t help change the fact he could barely crawl to his bed.

Another obvious change was that mending had become far easier and efficient. Labyrinth flaws had now become, for the most part, apparent, allowing the boy to fix several in one pass. In under two days he had managed to achieve more than he had in the previous five, not to mention he had returned to a few pesky items to complete the missing three percent that kept bugging him. If this were a game platform, he would have received a number of achievements by now. Secretly, he was still hoping he would. After all, actions in the awakened realm had provided him bonuses before.

Three hours before the day of his new trial, Dallion snuck out of his house once more. Being level two was nice, but if he managed to reach level three it would be better.

It wasn’t difficult to find the shrine cave. Gloria had done a good job getting him there along a series of landmarks. Looking back, she had probably done so deliberately, knowing Dallion would sneak in again. Beneath her somewhat arrogant, and undeniably pretty, exterior she was actually quite nice. A pity she had explained so little about the shrines.

As Dallion put his hand on the altar, he closed his eyes, wishing that he’d be offered the forging skills once more. When he opened them, he was back in the plain of the shrine.

You are in a small Awakening shrine.

Complete the trial to improve your destiny!

So far everything had been the same, from the sky to the endless bare wasteland. At the same time, there were a few subtle details Dallion hadn’t noticed before. The moons above were much brighter, faintly glowing in the sky. There were seven of them in total, all of various colors and sizes. The blue one was the largest, shining with an intensity equal to the one the boy remembered from earth. Most of the rest were pale blotches of color, and two were little more than a circle outline in a sky of white.

The columns also seemed more detailed, if identical. As Dallion took a step forward, an arch appeared. Two things instantly became apparent: the roman numeral one was clearly visible carved into the capstone, also the entire arch was filled up with a brick wall.

What’s this? Dallion approached and slid his fingers along the wall—it was very real and very solid. Hitting it with his buckler yielded no results, forcing the boy to move toward the column to the right. As expected, a second archway appeared, this one also barred.

Fear crept in. Had Dallion gone through all this trouble for nothing? Possibly there was some other hidden requirement that Gloria hadn’t mentioned. That could be why she was so careless when sharing the shrine’s location.

Anxious, Dallion stepped to the right again. The moment he did, a wave of relief passed through him. The archway was there, unblocked, along with the number three roman numeral on top.

“Phew.” The boy whipped the seat off his forehead. There was a way to progress, after all.

Curious, he walked around the rest of the columns until all six archways appeared. There were six of them, each with a roman numeral. The first two were blocked, leaving Dallion to choose from three onwards. After his recent experience, he chose the third.

Shrine trial 3 chosen!

Prepare for combat!

“Yeah, yeah.” Dallion dismissed the rectangle. Once the novelty of awakening had worn off, the rectangles had become really old, really fast.. just like pop-ups.

Unlike last time, Darrion found himself on the beach of a tropical island. Blue sky and sea continued for as far as the eye could see. Behind him, a modest cluster of palm trees formed a jungle the same way they did in elementary school drawings. It was clear that the fighting would take place in water.. which wasn’t that good.

Dallion loved to swim, but never was particularly good at it. Even when he’d gone to the pool as a teen, he always made sure to gravitate towards the shallow end.

“I’m here!” Dallion shouted, still on the beach. He had no intention of stepping in. “I’m ready.”

The guardian’s reaction was immediate. A fountain of water emerged from the endless sea. Dallion braced himself, buckler and short sword at the ready.

“Hey!” a cheerful voice said.

SHRINE GUARDIAN

Species: SLIME

Class: WATER

Statistics: UNKNOWN

Skills:

Weak Spots: NONE